Dicks: The Musical

A24 | Release Date: October 6, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
PolygonSiddhant AdlakhaOct 6, 2023
It’s a laugh riot, with the potential to go down as one of the decade’s smartest and funniest comedies. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 8, 2023
"Dicks” is an unapologetically puerile, hard-R novelty that’s just lo-fi enough to maintain its underground cred. Read full review
87
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzOct 18, 2023
Demanding a full audience of sickos to unlock the film’s true communal madness, Dicks: The Musical is destined for midnight-movie deification. Worship its transgressive power, or denounce it as unholy. The film thankfully offers no in-between. Read full review
80
Vanity FairHillary BusisSep 8, 2023
As the film wears on, though, it gets weirder and sharper—particularly when musical comedy pros Lane and Mullally show up. Each actor is right on Jackson and Sharp’s line-pushing wavelength, saying and singing unspeakably disgusting things with a straight face. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonOct 5, 2023
It’s a deliriously demented LGBTQ+ riff on “The Parent Trap” about accepting love in all forms, repairing broken families and finding your true self, but it accomplishes all of that in the raunchiest way possible. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaOct 6, 2023
“Dicks” can’t maintain that level of performative thrust all the way through; it sags a bit in the middle, as one might expect from making the considerable jump from the stage and through the hoops of major revisions. But the film bounces back toward its back nine. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenSep 13, 2023
Despite all that loopy energy, Dicks: The Musical still can’t help but remain an inescapably one-note proposition, albeit a subversively melodic one. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubManuel BetancourtOct 6, 2023
This is as broad as comedies get these days. But its shock-and-awe sensibility is somewhat exhausting. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 9, 2023
When enthusiasm alone can no longer keep the ship afloat, sheer audacity rides to the rescue, as “Dicks” ends with an inevitable but satisfying eruption of bad behavior that feels so good — one that leaves you wondering just how much funnier and more transgressive this movie could have been had it allowed itself to go that hard from the start. Read full review
67
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 8, 2023
Sure, the story hangs on by the thinnest of threads, it loses momentum in the second act, and one or two of the songs are just a bit too repetitive. Then again, you’ll laugh. Likely a lot. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 19, 2023
If you’re easily offended, or even have a modest vulgarity/raunch threshold, “Dicks” isn’t/aren’t for you. But in a midnight showing amongst the also-not-easily-shocked lovers of cult comedy dirty laughs, “Dicks” would be hard to beat. Ahem. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonOct 17, 2023
Dicks: The Musical is a three-star movie with a midnight crowd and a two-star movie when viewed at 3 p.m. My star rating splits the difference. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiSep 11, 2023
Having written this script for themselves, Sharp and Jackson are a scream. Imagine if a vodka Redbull transformed into two human beings — that’s who they are. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 8, 2023
A twisted genre experiment that plays with sexuality, classic genre tropes, and general lunacy, it’s half a movie, but it’s so committed to its rebellious tone that it makes for a hell of a half. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreOct 19, 2023
Dicks: The Musical is never as outrageous as it clearly would like to be . . . But its determination to avoid any trace of self-importance or greater meaning is admirable in its own right — embracing the freedom to just be ridiculous. Read full review
60
The GuardianCharles BramescoSep 9, 2023
Every second Mullally and Lane spend onscreen should be preserved in the library of Congress so that future generations of thespians might learn from their example. Read full review
60
IGNChase HutchinsonSep 8, 2023
For all the fun that the cast seems to be having with Dicks, it’s never as creative in execution as it needs to be. There are chuckles to be had, but the overall experience is defined by narrowness rather than naughtiness. Read full review
58
Original-CinThom ErnstOct 19, 2023
The film is broad, campy, audacious and arrives with high expectations. But Dicks ultimately disappoints — and the inherent joke that goes with that line should not pass underappreciated. The title is the joke. But it’s a joke that doesn’t get as much play as it should. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 9, 2023
The whole gets somewhat tiring, considering few (if any) scripts could sustain the level of insanity met when it’s at its best. Anything not dialed to eleven becomes noticeably dull by comparison. Read full review
58
ColliderRoss BonaimeSep 8, 2023
Dicks: The Musical is a decidedly big swing and a genuinely weird take on the musical that has its moments, but also feels a bit stretched too thin given its concept. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfOct 23, 2023
It all seems as if it was a riot to film, but the finished product is just a few bombastic jokes stitched together to create a mid riff. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 18, 2023
There just isn’t a whole lot to say about this deliberately lowbrow, gleefully low-budget expansion of Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp’s half-hour stage play, originally performed by the duo in 2015 under the auspices of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv and sketch comedy group. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 10, 2023
The picture’s initial comic energy proves hard to sustain even with a short runtime, though, as the jokes start to feel strained and the numbers grow uninspired. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearSep 8, 2023
You can’t accuse Dicks: The Musical of phoning in a half-assed take on material that demands you bring the big-dick energy or GTFO. But there’s a big difference between being loud and rude and being hilarious, cutting, or even clever. The movie keeps it up for a good long while. It could just use a few more inches. Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiOct 28, 2023
Dicks: The Musical is simply doing too much, and not enough of it is good to justify its runtime. It’s neither clever nor funny, save for the couple of jokes that actually land, and it’s too smarmy for its own good. Read full review
40
The New York TimesElisabeth VincentelliOct 5, 2023
Its only point is highly self-aware pseudo-gonzo provocation, peaking in a denouement that feels both surprising and inevitable, and looks as if it had been engineered to deliberately unsettle some viewers. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenOct 19, 2023
A more self-impressed movie than Dicks: The Musical would be hard to imagine. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithOct 6, 2023
In the instances where it’s not going hard, Dicks is a surprisingly flaccid affair. Read full review
30
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 6, 2023
Dicks is so in love with itself and its own overworked kooky world that it treats the audience like the outsider in a threesome. Sometimes the self is the least interesting part of self-expression. Read full review
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